Thread by @SandmanGrant

Bishop Jay Behan from New Zealand opens up Colossians 1:15-23 for us in the first morning session of #Gafcon23

We always want more, better, newer… So too in Colossae… maybe Jesus is a good start, but is there more?

No, our theme is “go to Christ” and you cannot get a more exalted picture than that given in Colossians 1:15-23.

We must be breathless at the dignity & glory of Jesus!

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him...

1. Jesus is supreme over creation - all of it - making it all, the goal of it all, the sustainer of it all!

My lungs work, seasons change, gravity operates because Jesus ordains it.

No matter your qualification, if you don’t get Jesus, you’ve missed the world’s purpose!

And Jesus is supreme in the new creation… Colossians 1:18-20

This means the Archbishop of Canterbury is not the head of the church; any more than bishops in general, or Synods, or #Gafcon is head of the church! Important though they might be, they are only effective if they serve the true head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ!

And Jesus smashes💥 death with his resurrection, blazing a trail for us. And there is nothing of God that is not available and active in Jesus. He is fully qualified to reconcile us through his blood.

So, vv21-23, remain in the Supreme One. No upgrade or supplement is required. Because of the cross of the risen Lord we are no longer alienated, now presented holy and blameless, and never to shift from the gospel. Jesus is all in all, and he is ours!

Thanks Jay!

After morning tea, Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit says it’s critical to know our history and introduces Bishop Glenn Davies, former Archbishop of @SydAnglicans, now Bishop of the new Diocese of the Southern unfold the timeline behind Gafcon’s formation…

A printed version of this history is on the #Gafcon23 website, focussed on revisionism re.sexuality, but actually sadly undergirded by widespread liberalism on basic biblical and creedal truths, illustrated famously by Bishop Jack Spong…

gafcon23.org/timeline-of-ga…

The “tear in the fabric” recognised in 2003 has sadly become a chasm.

GAFCON has always been about respecting the authority of Scripture, and a widespread call to repentance.

But the institutional Anglican response has been endless committees without any disciplinary teeth.

Archbishop Davies cites Matthew 28:19-20 and says you cannot be a follower of Jesus unless you obey all he teaches. And he notes this question of the prophet Amos!

Dr Stephen Noll identifies the key battleground addressed by the Jerusalem Declaration as starting with the Creed’s first statement - God as Creator - based on the first chapters of the Bible - and especially Genesis 1:26-27 and Gen 2:2-25. Denial of this truth caused the crisis.

“We cherish our Anglican heritage and the Anglican Communion and have no intention of departing from it. And we believe that in God's providence Anglicanism has a bright future in obedience to our Lord's Great Commission… on the foundation of biblical truth…

Amen to this… delighted to be personally meeting and praying with Anglicans from Nigeria, Madagascar, DRC, Kenya, and did I mention Nigeria!?

https://twitter.com/jeffreyhwalton/status/1648265473639710724

The afternoon session hears from clergy & laity about the greatest challenges they see for the Anglican communion. Responses incl.: churches no longer acknowledging Bible as final authority; the lie about what constitutes human identity; individualism (no sense of belonging)…

Ranging on to literal idolatry, governmental instability, kidnapping, militant Islam!
…alongside unwillingness to refute error, and the lack of anything distinct from what people hear in culture.

Observation from panellist: many of our problems in the West stem from the fact that we are too comfortable for our own good.

From another: A Christianity that costs us nothing is not biblical.

#gafcon23

Actually if someone in the communion suffers differently elsewhere in horrible ways we find hard to understand, we are affected!

This afternoon, clergy and laity have been considering challenges to the Anglican communion. Then almost a thousand of us broke into small groups of 6 or so, to produce statements of only 3 (!!!) sentences expressing our hopes for the Anglican communion. Here are two examples!

The group my daughter was in…

The group I was in…

Very sad news out of GAFCON this evening for our host in Rwanda …

https://twitter.com/gafconference/status/1648365576367095815

So this last verse of the famous hymn was especially poignant as we sang tonight…

Tonight we hear from Anglican Mission in Europe. An Aussie working in Ireland, Cameron Jones, reports that because of evangelical church planting he has been denied a licence in the Church of Ireland, his colleague, the Director of Irish Missions, has been delicensed. Tragic.

Big efforts from across the CEEC (Church of England Evangelical Council) to plant and secure churches both within and outside the structures of the Church of England. There are determined efforts to resist CofE institutional leadership where orthodoxy has been abandoned.

We also hear about Anglican ministry in Leipzig, Germany, from Klaus Hickel, with thanks to @CMSAustralia for sending them, and to the Anglican Convocation in Europe to plant a German-speaking Anglican churches to reach one of the most secular parts of the world.

It’s just good and encouraging to hear from those who have been able to stay and work for the gospel and biblical orthodoxy within the traditional Church of England and those who have needed to move outside to newer Anglican structures in Europe to do likewise.

Archbishop Ben Kwashi says the key issue Gafcon faces is theological. So theological study is crucial. Ashley Null says Cranmer understood God’s Word goes with God’s breath, so if we want a Spirit-filled church, we need the message of Jesus as recorded in God’s Word. So…

And God’s work of #GAFCON in West Africa! Nothing less than gospel ministry, says Bp Henry Okeke, their regional secretary… Brazilian mission in Guinea Bissau led to first Anglican conversion, school and ordination in a Muslim-dominated community, also a cross-cultural marriage!

The recent ‘Joshua Generation’ conference attracted 18,000 young people in Nigeria, encouraged in the gospel, with over a thousand considering mission beyond Nigeria! …Nigeria has over 150 dioceses! Bishop Festus of Ghana asks Nigeria for help for other West African dioceses!

And that’s it for a very long day… 9am to 9pm, full of encouragement even in sadness. Well done if you made it to the end of this #gafcon23 🧵!

@threadreaderapp please unroll!